00:00All right, welcome back in on this Tuesday.
00:06It is Newswire here on the Sports Grid Network.
00:08I'm Joe Renneri in for Craig Mish here today, and we've got plenty on the legal front in
00:14the sports betting space here, and nobody better to help us navigate through some of
00:19the top stories than the Legal Sports Report's Jim Gazelle stepping in here.
00:24And Jim, let's start in Nebraska, who has a special session going on.
00:30The talks about online sports betting, I guess, are heating up.
00:34What's the latest here in Nebraska?
00:36Yeah.
00:37Of course, it's not really the time that we typically talk about potential states legalizing
00:45online sports betting, and of course, Nebraska already has retail sports betting.
00:51Just at a handful of regional casinos around the state, so legalizing online sports betting
00:57in Nebraska got brought up for discussion mid last week during their special session.
01:04Governor Jim Pillen is looking for ways for the state to combat somewhat of a property
01:11tax crisis, as he called it, for its residents.
01:15So one of the options that's been put on the table is legalizing online sports betting.
01:21They talked about it at length at a general affairs committee hearing last week on Wednesday,
01:28spoke about it for about three hours.
01:30No action was ultimately taken, so we're still waiting to see if it lands on another agenda
01:36for this week, where it can be brought up for another discussion, and perhaps potentially
01:42be voted on in some way to advance it forward through this special session.
01:48So what they're calling for is basically just opening it up to the online apps to come in
01:55and regulate the product that way.
01:59GeoComply, that geofencing technology company that helps out the online sportsbooks with
02:09location targeting and whatnot, they appeared at the hearing on Wednesday, pushing in favor
02:17of legalized online sports betting in Nebraska, and they said that they've seen, in the first
02:22six months this year, 40,000 accounts cross state lines from Nebraska into other states,
02:3080% of those going into Iowa to place legal sports bets there, and one senator from Nebraska
02:37is saying that the state is giving up $32 million a year in sports betting tax revenue
02:44by not having it legalized.
02:46If they do take action on this bill here in the next couple of weeks, it would create
02:53a constitutional amendment and basically put it in front of voters in November.
02:58If they don't take it up now, Governor Pillen has said that he will put a priority bill
03:03in place in January to legalize it that way.
03:07If they do wait until January to start discussing it further during their typical legislative
03:12session, that would push that constitutional amendment out until 2026, which that one senator,
03:19Elliot Bostar, says would cost the state about $100 million.
03:22So nothing on the agenda so far for this week.
03:26That page on their website I checked just before we came on, Joe, has not been updated
03:30yet, though we are expecting to most likely see that come back for a little bit more discussion
03:35in the coming days and weeks, and ultimately see what happens with that online sports betting
03:41legislation in Nebraska.
03:43Yeah, I thought that's an amazing number of people crossing over there.
03:48That had to be pretty eye-opening for the legislature there to take a look, and that's
03:53money that should be staying inside the state of Nebraska there.
03:58What in the world here, Jim, can't we all just get along, New York Racing Association
04:04and Churchill Downs?
04:07Every time I turn around, it feels like there's an argument here with these tracks and platforms.
04:14What's the latest now?
04:15Yeah, so Naira and Churchill Downs were a little bit of a content contract dispute last
04:23week that ultimately got resolved rather quickly.
04:27I think you've got really the two biggest players in the horse betting space, and they
04:32both removed each other's respective content from their platforms last week.
04:39What Naira was asking for ultimately was an additional 1% source market fee from these
04:47other ADWs, the horse betting app, which, Twin Spires, that Churchill Downs operates.
04:55Churchill Downs basically said, pound sand.
05:01I'm not exactly sure who blinked first or what the ultimate terms of the agreement were,
05:07but this past weekend was the Whitney Stakes up here in Saratoga, which is traditionally
05:13one of the highest volume handle weekends in New York and really throughout the country.
05:21As one might expect, the two sides came to an agreement just before that big weekend.
05:28Joe, like you said off the top, Naira was in another content dispute with FanDuel over
05:35the July 4th holiday weekend.
05:38That cost them actually, it did Naira, cost them a pretty penny in handle.
05:43Ultimately, those two sides came together.
05:47You're right, Joe.
05:48It's like, why can't we all just get along?
05:50Arguably, the three biggest players in the horse betting space, just sparring over content,
05:57everybody trying to get the best deal possible.
06:00Ultimately, the argument from the fans and the horse players is, they're the ones that
06:05are losing.
06:07These big dollar entities are trying to squeeze as much as they can from each other and ultimately
06:15not making that content available widespread across every app.
06:23Just really hinders the ability for horse racing to advance and compete with all these
06:30other forms of online betting, namely sports betting.
06:37The little dispute between Naira and CDI with a couple of strongly worded quotes flying
06:44back and forth, ultimately lasted less than 48 hours.
06:49All of the content is back on the Naira Bets app and on the Twin Spires app for New York
06:56Racing and all of the different tracks that Churchill Downs operates across the country.
07:01Yeah.
07:02I mean, listen, with FanDuel and other, they have enough competition.
07:05You'd think they would all get on the same page there, Jim.
07:09It would be better for everyone, including the player.
07:12And finally, what about Ohio?
07:15I guess the latest numbers are out here and I guess all of a sudden, Bet365 is a player
07:24in Ohio.
07:25Is that what we're seeing?
07:26Yeah.
07:27I mean, they're kind of in that second rung of players, I guess you would say, and they
07:32really established themselves as a clear number three in that market, still a far distance
07:40behind the two market leaders in FanDuel and DraftKings, which we see in most markets
07:46across the country.
07:47But for Bet365, it's been a pretty positive first six months of the year.
07:53Like I said, that clear number three.
07:56And like we were talking before we went on, Joe, I think to me, the most interesting thing
08:02so far this year has been ESPN Bet and just how well they've been performing in a lot
08:10of their markets that they're live in across the country, Ohio being one of the larger
08:16ones.
08:17And after that big promo rush that they rolled out midway through November and into December
08:23when they launched late last year, things have kind of slid backwards for them.
08:29They're now getting outpaced by a couple others of those second tier operators.
08:34But for FanDuel and DraftKings, still at the top end of that Ohio market, really no signs
08:41of slowing down for either of them there.
08:43FanDuel has 10 consecutive months now of clearing more than $20 million in monthly revenue.
08:49But like we said off the top, Bet365 holding their own and really cementing themselves
08:53as the number three option in the Buckeye State.
08:57Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to monitor to see how it rolls there, Jim,
09:02in Ohio and Bet365, but certainly ESPN.
09:06I think that's going to be a work in progress, man.
09:09We appreciate it as always dropping the knowledge on us, Jim, from The Legal Sports Report.
09:15We got much more still to get to here on Newswire.
09:18We'll do so next year on The Grid.
